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Patrick adds Kansas to complete 2012 Cup schedule

July 9, 2012

Danica Patrick will close out her 10-race Cup Series schedule October 21 at Kansas. Photo by LAT Photographic

Stewart-Haas Racing has confirmed that Danica Patrick will race in the Oct. 21 Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. The 267-lap, 400-mile race will complete her 10-race NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule in this, her first full year in NASCAR. She's running the full Nationwide Series schedule and plans to run full-time in Sprint Cup next year.

Patrick, driver of the No. 10 Chevrolet for Tommy Baldwin Racing/Stewart-Haas Racing, picked Kansas Speedway for her final Cup race this year since all teams get an extra day of practice because the 1.5-mile track has been surfaced since the April race.

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"With testing rules the way they are, we can't test with her at tracks where NASCAR's top three series compete,” said Greg Zipadelli, SHR competition director and Patrick's race strategist. “That extra day of testing will be huge for her. With the amount of 1.5-mile ovals on the schedule, it made sense to have her compete at Kansas to better prepare her for 2013.”

So far this year Patrick has raced a Sprint Cup car in Daytona Beach, Darlington and Charlotte. She will race at Bristol on Aug. 25, Atlanta on Sept. 2, Chicagoland on Sept. 26, Dover on Sept. 30, Kansas City on Oct. 21, Fort Worth on Nov. 4 and Phoenix on Nov. 11. Her best Cup start has been 29th at Daytona Beach in February and her best finish 30th at Charlotte in May.

Patrick is somewhat familiar with the Kansas Speedway. She won an IZOD IndyCar pole there in July 2005 and qualified third or better in three of her six starts at the track. She also had three top-10 finishes at Kansas in IndyCar Series competition. Her only NASCAR start there was last October 2011, when she started 15th and finished 15th in a Nationwide Series race.